Life is interconnected and so are the topics on this blog. It might be cooking and gardening one day, yoga the next, knitting and sewing, or hiking and then bird watching followed by recycling or composting. They are the parts that bring humble joy to my life of voluntary simplicity in Montana.

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Thursday, May 5, 2011

On My Mind.....

Oh, there are so many things on my mind today it is hard to pick..... so I will mention only two as a sort of compromise!

First and foremost is that we will soon enough be departing, caravan style, with Matt's brothers and their partners for a mini-family reunion in Minnesota.

Roger and his sons on Father's Day 2010.

While I am not especially looking forward to the long drive across North Dakota, I AM especially looking forward to spending time with family. Matt has a good family that makes me feel lucky to have joined them. That said, I still have not met all of Matt's relatives that live over in Minnesota and I figure after about five years in the family it is time. Also, his grandmother is suffering for some ill health and so Matt is very eager to spend some time with her. There is golfing planned, but I do not golf. Other than that I think it is just relaxing and visiting. Sounds like fun to me. I still need to pack so that is on my mind....a running list of the things to bring.

The second thing on my mind is that is is graduation weekend for the university I work for. I am losing a few of my student workers this semester and I am sad both professionally and personally. It just about makes me get teary to think about Gretchen and Kaila not being around the library any more.

Gretchen and Kaila at our Earth Day tree planting celebration.

They are both so kind, smart, helpful, and creative. Wonderful, generous people. Gretchen is THE most competent worker I've trained so on that note it is even harder to let her go. Oh well, Matt reminds me that I probably did the very same thing to the librarians at MSU-B when I graduated. It is one of the inevitables about student workers. You watch them grow and change and become such awesome human beings and then...poof...they are gone....out into the "real world." Since we are in Minnesota this weekend I do not get to watch them walk the stage for their diplomas, or see how they decorated their mortarboards, or visit with them at their graduation parties. Today is my last day of spending time with them and I am more sad than I thought I'd be. I made them each an ojo de dios in their favorite colors for going away/graduation gifts.

For Kaila.

For Gretchen.

Ojos are a sort of talisman of good fortune and protection. I have no doubt these fine young women will succeed in life with flying colors, but a lucky talisman never hurt!

This is something small that I will miss greatly. Gretchen played this "game" where she moved the Very Hungry Caterpiller around the library both for her own amusement and to see how long it would take me to find and notice it. I looked forward to finding its new hiding spot after each of her shifts. She really thought this was a clever spot, hidden among the post cards, coming out of the Big Apple. She is so great.

It's incredible the impact some people have in our lives...often without us realizing it until they're gone. Soak up every second of your trip and enjoy meeting the rest of the people in your not-so-new-anymore family. :) And travel safely!

The trip and visit with family was more amazing than I could have even hoped for. I enjoyed every single minute of it. Beautiful weather and much happiness shared.

Ojos come from native people of Mexico. Traditionally a father would make a tiny one for his new baby and then add to it each year until the age of 5. It was to bring loving protection and good fortune upon the little baby. I first learned of them in Sunday school as a wee girl, but they were a tad simpler design than these.